


In Memorium: Henry Blake

by ChokolatteJedi



Series: In Memorium [4]
Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Challenge Response, Character Analysis, Community: tv-universe, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-21 02:37:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/894816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A meta discussion of character death: Henry Blake</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Memorium: Henry Blake

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the TV Universe "In Memorium" challenge, where I was prompted to discuss up to five character deaths that had great impact on me.

Oh, Henry Black's death. MASH is a show I grew up watching in reruns, and I have many fond memories of it. Because of this, I can't remember the first time that I heard about Henry's death. But I do know how I still feel about it. MASH is a show that deals with death all the time. And not in a Joss Whedon kind of way, but in a 30 minutes later all is well again kind of way. Patients die, Hawkeye fights the good fight, and everyone dreams of going home alive.

Henry was the first death that had impact. He was the first character with a name, appearing in more than one episode, who we cared about, to get hit. And more importantly, his death was a proverbial sucker punch. Henry wasn't supposed to die. He got his orders, and he got a goodbye party, and he left for home. _He should have been safe! _He was the first of them to get to go home for reals (not counting Trapper's aborted Ulcer discharge and Klinger's many escape attempts) and he had finally gotten away from the war.__

__To have him shot down off screen and not make it back was hitting below the belt. And the reactions of the other characters was so painful because they were in OR. They had to keep working, and they were wearing their masks (talk about hard work for the actors) and people were bleeding, and they had to go on and work through their grief. Radar's voice breaking as he tries to deliver the news is just heartbreaking, too._ _

__I already shared my dislike of sucker punches in relation to character death in my discussion on Dan Conner's death, and this death has a similar feeling. Once again, we had an illusion of safety and health, and suddenly death. At least this time, the sucker punch came from the in character enemy, not from the writers._ _


End file.
